By Nina Korman | SolarIndustryMag.com
By a vote of 34 to 24, the House Committee on Appropriations last week approved a Fiscal Year 2024 Energy and Water Development spending bill that would devastate Department of Energy (DOE) funding for clean energy and grid deployment.
While the committee states that the bill “prioritizes funding for agencies and programs that bolster our national security, energy security and economic competitiveness,” many amendments proposed by Democrats during the markup period were rejected by Republicans. They included amendments that “continued wasteful funding for projects under the Title 17 loan authority and climate initiatives within the Inflation Reduction Act.”
The final bill also included a provision that “reins in wasteful Washington spending by rescinding $5.58 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).”
Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), offered his thoughts on the legislation: “The Energy & Water spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee slashes funding for critical DOE programs, including the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Office of Electricity, bringing them to well below Fiscal Year 2023 enacted levels.
“These funding cuts would take us backward when we urgently need to deploy more clean energy and modernize our grid to enhance reliability and better enable our electric power system to withstand increasingly frequent extreme weather events. We urge the Senate to reject these spending cuts and maintain funding for DOE efforts that are critical to meeting our energy security and climate goals.”